Is Volosozhar and Trankov's FS Olympic gold worthy?

After last season's Ikuko Kawai sublime program, they chose Jesus Christ Superstar. Great pair, but what were they thinking about when they choose Jesus Christ Superstar?!?! A clean performance and the most muted applause from the audience. I hope they understand that this program won't work for anyone, skaters who used JC Superstar never had the results they looked for.

Originally Posted by Mrs. P

Well judges gave them a WR for that performance....so even if it isn't working, per se. IT's working as far as the scores goes.

Originally Posted by LRK

I must say that while I did love their SP - I thought it was delighful - the FP just left me feeling - and not to mention -

Originally Posted by BlackPack

But this is the Olympics. Do they simply want to be remembered as the competent technical pair like M&M? Think most people would agree 1994 as the barometer of the height of pairs skating with B&S and S&Z as bright lights in subsequent years.

Originally Posted by bramweld

In spite of their technical issues the last great pair for me was B/S. They were just so beautiful. V/T just do not compare on any level. They either don't have the talent and or the work ethic How could they feel comfortable with just recycling the choreography they've had for the last two or three years. Lazy!! IMHO. No matter how the judges will score your work, what about your own sense of pride? For that reason alone, I hope S/S win in Sochi, if only by some miracle

Sure. Technically it was pretty solid and it would be worthy of an Olympic gold....

But was it a great program, oh dear god no. The funniest is the Eurosport guys' reaction to it... "We wondered what the hell was going on in the first minute or so of this [i.e. absolutely hated it], but they were executing the elements with a lot of quality, so I guess we're supposed to like it?!?" Too bad the clip I saw was cut off before I could hear their reactions to the scores.

V/T are capable of something so much more interesting than this. They have lovely elements, excellent speed, but the music is atrocious and the interpretation isn't there... I'm sorry but praying in the middle of the ice and then forming a cross at the end? I haven't seen such cheesiness since Kavaguti ripped open her dress to reveal a heart.

I really hope they change their program, but the outrageously high score will probably make them think they have a good thing going.

Also, about the whole crucified Tatiana thing at the end, the IOC "prohibits demonstration[s] or political, religious, or racial propaganda in any Olympic sites, venues, or areas". What's the IOC going to do?!

Also, about the whole crucified Tatiana thing at the end, the IOC "prohibits demonstration[s] or political, religious, or racial propaganda in any Olympic sites, venues, or areas". What's the IOC going to do?!

Yeah.... why did Tatiana crucify herself? If anything, they were never victims since she paired with Trankov. Meteoric rise. Other pairs labored for years before the judges showed them any respect.

The most "memorable" JC Superstar program for me was Lobacheva and Averbukh's many years ago. That was another

JC Superstar is sort of a counter-cultural piece very specific to the 60/70s flower child thing. It's not really timeless and hardcore fans expect timeless artistic breakthroughs from the Olympics.

I also think Tatiana is a much stronger partner than Maxim is. She is exceptional while he is merely competent. Their twists and throws are spectacular. You have a very solid technical pair, but they are nowhere near the magic of B&S, S&Z, G&G, and M&D.

This feels like such a worthwhile question, that any single person could come up with very different and conflicting responses to. The whole issue of "worthiness" would be the pivot point.

We could go on debating endlessly. But, it seems practically moot. In pairs, element execution and racking up the points should win the day. The programs simply have to be that "artistic" or "creative" or "imaginative." Couple that with the inevitable level of $upport that they are already getting acknowledged with, it seems like it doesn't really matter.

I think Trankov dictates to Mozer how he's going to skate, and he fails to see how poorly his skating skills and presentation match up with Tatiana's. He doesn't even make an effort to match her. He tries in exhibitions in competitions he only worries about nailing the elements and it shows. Sadly for Tatiana I hope that the success of other teams cause him to reevaluate this approach. But what is most sad is that this should be glaringly obvious to the judges but they choose to reward them for sloppy work just the same It says a lot about figure skating and why many question with reason the integrity of the sport

I think Trankov dictates to Mozer how he's going to skate, and he fails to see how poorly his skating skills and presentation match up with Tatiana's. He doesn't even make an effort to match her. He tries in exhibitions in competitions he only worries about nailing the elements and it shows. Sadly for Tatiana I hope that the success of other teams cause him to reevaluate this approach. But what is most sad is that this should be glaringly obvious to the judges but they choose to reward them for sloppy work just the same It says a lot about figure skating and why many question with reason the integrity of the sport

And giving two world record scores for those performances isn't going to boost the integrity level anytime soon.

Sure it is. It isnt a great program but technically they are by far the best pair right now, and they hit the bullet points required for good PC marks too, and so if they skate reasonably well they deserve to win, whether they have a masterpiece of a program or not. I doubt any of their competitors will either anyway based on the last few years of pairs skating.

The pairs field is just weak right now anyway. That a team like Duhamel & Radford nearly won silver at Worlds last year sums up the pairs field right now. There isnt really anyone to push V&T to better now, as their only competition is an old and declining German team.

Sure it is. It isnt a great program but technically they are by far the best pair right now, and they hit the bullet points required for good PC marks too, and so if they skate reasonably well they deserve to win, whether they have a masterpiece of a program or not. I doubt any of their competitors will either anyway based on the last few years of pairs skating.

The pairs field is just weak right now anyway. That a team like Duhamel & Radford nearly won silver at Worlds last year sums up the pairs field right now. There isnt really anyone to push V&T to better now, as their only competition is an old and declining German team.

Based on the current pairs the idea any of the current pairs would ever put out a program and performance at a high enough technical and artistic level to deserve to beat the program skated as well as it was there is hugely unlikely. The thought of Duhamel & Radford, old past their best Pang & Tong, Barazova & Larionova, old and past their best Kavaguti ever putting together something that would deserve to beat that is simply laughable, and anyone who even suggests any of those teams could conceivably do so I will laugh heartily at. The Germans are the only ones who conceivably could put together a program that would even arguably deserve to (and yeah I know even if they did they wont due to politics and momentum for the Russians now, but I am just talking about what would fair) and to do that they would have to have way better programs than last year, and skate cleanly which they havent been doing in years, and rarely did even in their primes.

So that obviously answers the question if it is Olympic Gold medal worthy. They arent competing against Gordeeva & Grinkov, in which case the answer would probably be different.

In terms of interesting and "worthy" programs, the Germans have done a fine job all these years. Funny how so many people credit Ingo Steuer, but I don't recall his competitive programs being that interesting. Unfortunately, the Germans are encumbered by nerves and inconsistencies. The Germans do tend to overextend themselves by doing difficult elements that they're probably not technically capable of performing cleanly. When it comes to innovation, I'd give it to the Germans, even if they're not a classical pair with great lines.

I do agree with whoever said V&T have become lazy. Most of their new LP moves are old ones. Who's to blame them if the judges keep rewarding them? All the pairs are doing very difficult moves these days, and the only difference is that V&T managed to be clean.

If they're going to keep recycling old moves, they might as well kill the JC program and revive their Ikuko Kawai program for the Olympics. I'd like to be able to watch an Olympic performance over and over again, and I just can't watch a JC program repeatedly.

They have no motivations to improve their programs because they are still rewarded with 10 10 10s. The same with Davis and White.

Please don't drag D/W in here, because I might blow a fuse. But then again I need to vent, to see an obviously rough program (D/W), get 110 points at the start of the season Mind you IMHO, if the program were a masterpiece I could understand, but boy, it grieves me to see high marks just thrown away like that

Please don't drag D/W in here, because I might blow a fuse. But then again I need to vent, to see an obviously rough program (D/W), get 110 points at the start of the season Mind you IMHO, if the program were a masterpiece I could understand, but boy, it grieves me to see high marks just thrown away like that

Originally Posted by Moment

They have no motivations to improve their programs because they are still rewarded with 10 10 10s. The same with Davis and White.